You will need to keep your cardio level 'ticking over'. You are not doing cardio for fat burning so that is not a problem. 30 mins cardio 3 times a week (alternate days) should be enough to maintain cardio fitness at a reasonable level, and leave plenty of time and energy to devote to your lifting.

Quote:I did pushups for a long time to work my chest, it bulked me up nicely but only so far, and it didnt give me the well roundedness in my pecs that benchpresses give. Most noteworthy though was what happened to my tricps...they exploded and became rock solid where they were very weak and invisible before.

I've had the same experience. Recently purchased a weighted vest and I now use it for my push-up routine. The increased resistance really blasts the chest, triceps and shoulder areas, and has also improved my bench press.

yeah you wont really see any real gains in mass or strength with bodyweight excercise alone. however, you dont necessarily have to get a gym membership to use weights. if you have a used or discout sporting goods store close to where you live, try to just buy some dumbells. thats what I did. also, just as someone else said, you wont gain any muscle mass of any kind without eating more. for one or two days, count how many calories you eat in the day. the day after that, add about 400-500 onto it. if you do this, and keep up a faithful workout program, you can gain roughly 1-2 lbs. per week. any more than 2 lbs a week though is very unhealthy, so monitor this closely. eventually you will hit a plateau, and when you do, (cant gain any more weight) kick up your calorie intake another 200-250 calories a day. its tough, but if you stay true to the diet, and the workout routine, you'll see some good results. also, make sure you're eating healthy calories. not all are created equally; ie, if i need to eat 2500 calories a day, so i sit and eat 4 bags of potato chips every day, it is really, really bad for me. but if i get my calories from good, healthy foods, (try 6 meals a day, smaller than usual ones, spaced out about 3 -3 1/2 hours a day) i will be a very happy martial artist. it is also important to keep in mind that for most people, without the use of illegal drugs (anabolics, hormones) it is near impossible to gain muscle mass and weight without additional fat gains as well. no need to worry though you can always burn that off later.good luck with your goalsPil Sung Erick Shields

i would have to disagree with the notion that bodyweight exercises will get you no real gains in strength. some of the strongest athletes alive are gymnasts and they use primarily bodweight exercises. The key is to add an interesting modification to a bodyweight exercise so to make the exercise harder. Weights by themselves do not make you stronger. Resistance does. "The Naked Warrior" by Pavel Tsatouline is a great source of info for bodyweight training. But at the same time i believe that weight training is a great add on to any workout program. But be sure to use powerlifting or olympic lifting techs if u wish to build functional strength.

Well dont they say that modern body builders are relitivly weak compared to the body builders of old? I heard that body builders in the early 1900's used alot of body weight ecercises and in turn were extremly strong.Not only that these guys bodies were actually built differently..theyre muscles were emphasised differently...I guess it comes down to ethetics VS usefullness.

Hmm...no real gains in strength from doing handstand push ups or pull ups?...Funny thing is back in my weightlifting days I had to start with easier exercises like bent over rowing and lat pull down machines before I was ever strong enough to do pull ups. I had to do lots of military presses before I was ever strong enough to do handstand pushups. If you want bulk do the typical 3 sets of ten pull ups/3 sets of 10 handstand push ups/3 sets of 10 1 armed push ups, etc. When that becomes to easy, take several baggies fill them with sand put the baggies in a knapsack. Wear the knapsack during your workout and see what happens. As far as getting a so called buff body, bodyweight exercised won't do that for you because they're compound exercises rather than isolation exercises. If you want unbeatable strength and endurance check out "The Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness by Ross Enamait. The book is geared towards boxers, wrestlers, and MMA's. The routines will turn you into an absolute brute in the ring. All that being said even though I disagree with you about the strength issue, I do agree that barbells in general are an easier and quicker way to add mass.

I've got Matt Furey's book too. It's what got me started on this whole bodyweight exercise thing in the first place. I think both "Combat Conditioning" and the "Underground Guide To Warrior Fitness" are both great books, but the best way to describe it is if Furey's book is an Escort then Enamaits book is a Jaguar. Enamaits book has a ton of different types of routines, has a thorough section on stretching, on diet, on the difference between aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, etc. My own training is probably about 65% Furey and 35% Enamait (I practice Aiki jutsu so I mostly need aerobic fitness and flexibility and not as much anaerobic fitness or strength.)I tend to feel that Fureys book focus more on muscular endurance, flexibility, and aerobic fitness, whereas Enamait's book focuses more on strength and anaerobic conditioning.Technically speaking Enamait's book is a whole lot better written but I think that it's good to have both books, mix and match, and decide what works for you.The Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness is available on warriorforce.com or rossboxing.com .

I like the underground guide as well. I think its very clear and straightforward. For a visual I would add the physical body because if you do matt furey's stuff you want the visual of an actual wrestler doing it at speed with the real balance between weighted exercises and bodyweight exercises which he misses and is integral, check: http://www.thephysicalbody.com